Tapered-roller feather-plucking device



Nov. 26, 1929. J. DUNNER 1,737,226

TAPERED ROLLER FEATHER PLUCKING DEVICE I Filed May 9, 1928 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 awvemtoz,

:95 hi; WW W Nov. 26, 1929. J. DUNNER 1,737,226

TAPERBD ROLLER FEATHER PLUCKING DEVICE Filed May 9. 1928 S'Sheets-Shee 2 33 5/; auw WM Nov. 26, 1929. J. DUNNER I TAPERED ROLLER FEATHER PLUCKING DEVICE Filed May 9, 1928 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 l mented Nov. 26,

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TAEE-BED-EGLLER FEATHER-PLUCKING- DEVICEV Application filed May 9, lane. serial No. 278,253.

This invention relates to feather plucking devices and is an. improvement at my inven tion discloseo in my pending application for Letters Patent, Serial Number 248,312, tiled Q anuary2l,1928.

The main object of this improvement is to provide a device of the character described in my mentioned cc-pending application which will be simpler in construction and more efficient and perfect in operation.

Another object of the present invention is to make use of tapering or cone shaped rollers in a machine as characterized so that different speeds of plucking may be obtained at different portions of th tapered rollers, said rollers also permitting a gradually closer approach by the poultry the feathers of which are to be plucked to the gripping portions of the roller, which will enable my novel improved machine first to take the large and strong feathers o1 the poultry and afterwards finish the plucking operation by pulling out even the finest feathers or down onthe body of the bird.

Still another ob]ect of this improvement is to provide rollers of the mentioned character portions of which have been removed '7 so as to permit an air suction or craft to intermittently blow'through between the rollers and draw the feathers therebctween.

Other objects of this improvement *illbe apparent as the specification oi the same procoeds and among them may be mentioned: a

curved outline given to the reduced portions or the rollers so as to increase the suction between them and aid them in gripping the feathers therebetween; a novel arrangementand shape of the comb which in this device is apolied'onl to a )ortion 01": the rollers and is .i l y l 40' gradually reduced and is gradually approaching said rollers; a new method of driving, whereby itis insured that the rollers will always run in phase.

lVi'th these and other objects in view; as

will more fully hereinafter appear, the pres ent invent-ion consists in certain novel d tails of construction and arrangement of parts, hereinafter fully described illustrated in the accompanying drawings and more particularly pointed out and claimed, it be in" understood that various changes in the torm, proportion, size and minor details of the device may be made without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention;

in the accompanying drawings forming part or the specification:

- 1 is a fragmentary longitudinal secalren on the line l1 of Fig. 2. g. 2 is a tront elevation of the same,

i m drive for the rollers l elevation ofmy device, the section beq detail showing the improved Fig a is another detail showing the journallino of the rollers at the opposite side to that of their drive;

Fig. 5 is a diagrammatical View of the rollcomb placed before them,

Fig. 6 is a (liagrammatical explanation Of a modified form of the rollers, .Fig. 7 represents the tullassembly of my machine, while,

7 I .v V I n v I mg. 8 is a cross-sectional View of the pre-'- tered term of my tapered rollers shown in the position when their sides with the removed portions are taeing'each other and leaving a tree passage between the two.

Similar characters of reference relate to similar parts throughout the drawings.

l-lefcrrino new more closely to the draw ings by characters or reference, the numer' al 10 indicates the housing of my machine, preferably a metallic casing closed on all sides, except the upper front portion where an open space i is provided therein extend i throughout the width of the machine.

pair of tapered rollers 12 and 13 is arranged V s the lower part ot the openlng 11, the

bottom parts of the space within the housing 10, said passage finally oining into the proferably circular conduit 17 in the rear otthe housing 10.

()bserv'ing now Fig. 7 thea-ssembly View downwardly and then back-l of my invention, the circular conduit or tube 17 leads into the housing of a fan or exhauster 18 of any suitable and well knownv make, said fan or exhauster being operated by the electric motor 18 through the intermcdiacy of a clutch 20. All the said mechanism is arranged on a table 21, preferably having a supporting frame or leg structure below the same (not shown) so that the whole device may form an independent unit and may be moved around as the necessity of its use may require.

I preferably employ a second electric motor 22 supported in a suitable manner on an appropriate member 23 of said leg structure, motor 22 to drive through a belt 24 the gearing generally indicated by the numeral 25 and designed to drive the rollers 12 and 13, as will be explained resently.

A comb structure, indicated in general by the numeral 26, is placed across the lower portion of the open space 11 in the housing, and

' in front of the rollers 12 and 13, the lower part 27 of said comb being full and solid while the upper part having the comb teeth 28 and the spaces 29 therebetween. A front wall 30 of the housing 10 preferably follows the taper of the rollers and so doesthe comb 26, as indicated in Fig. 5, said comb being larger or thicker at its end 31 where it faces the larger diameters ofthe rollers 12 and 13, and being gradually reduced in thickness'towards the 'end 32 where it faces the smaller diameters of the taper rollers", preferably its distance from the rollers being also gradually reduced in the said direction. The rollers have the i ,roundedtru'nnions 12 and 12 and 13 and 13", respectively, wherewith they are journalled in the two side walls 10 and 10 of the casing-10, a portion of each roller is removed as at 12, 13, Figs. 1, 5 and 8, so that upon the rotation of the rollers part of the time their tapering portions are not meeting one another, but leaving a free space 33 between them. The lower roller 13 is journalled in a fixed manner, while the upper roller will be journalled in such a way as to permit a relative movement from its companion roller. For this purpose the trunnions 12 and 12 of the upper roller are arranged in the arms 34 and 34 (Figs. 3 and 4), freely movable in the recesses 35 and 35 in the respective side walls 10 and 10 able. arms 37, the two being connected'by the The driving of this part of the hinges 39 in the usual and well known manner. To normally secure the roller 12 in a close position on the roller 13, and to have a pressure between them necessary for their operation, a bolt 40 is secured into each of the ledges 36 carrying an adjustable spring 41 between the respective swinging arms 37 and the nut 42. The trunnions 12 and 13 are j ournalled in the side wall 10 and in the usual manner, while the trunnions 12 and 13 are journalled in half bearings 43 and 44, as shown in Fig. 4, so that the said trunnions are actually running on one another and permit a close contact between the smaller ends of the tapered rollers.

7 The trunnions 12 and 13 at the larger ends of the rollers carry two identical cooperating gears 45 and 46, on the outside of the wall 10?. machine is ol tained from the motor 22, through a belt 24,, as described hereinbefore, the upper belt pulley 47 having a gear 48 on its shaft 49 set into the wall 10 said gear cooperating with a larger gear 50 on a shaft 51, journaled in said wall 10 and in a supporting arm 52secured on said wall. The gear 50 is meshing with a further intermediate gear 53, said gear to drivethe gear 46 and the gear 45 there- 1 V through, A third gear 54 is also provided being entirely identical with the two gears 45 and 46, said gear 54 providing an independent second driving connection between the gears 53 and45. Y y

The operation of my device is asfollows: The two electric motors 19 and 22 are set into motion and through thenirotation is imparted to the fan or exhauster 18 and the gearing 25. The fan has an exhaust opening 55 and a current of air will be produced by the same entering through the opening 11 as indicated by the arrow 56, passing through the spaces 29 in the comb 26 and between the roll ers 12 and 13, when the space 33 hereinbefore mentioned as occurring between them, said" air current continuing its way through the conduits 16 and 17 to the housing of the exhauster 18 and passing out through the opening 55 as indicated by the arrows 57. 7 he gearing 25 will impart oppositely directed rotation to the rollers 12 and 13 as incated by the arrows 12 and 13 the tapered 7 portions of said rollers being in contact under pressure while their full portions are meeting one another, while the space 33 is left between'them at the moments when their reduced portions 12- and 13 are facing one another.

A bird, like a chicken or duck and so on,

the feathers of which are to be plucked, is

brought into close contact with the upper part of the comb 26'and manipulated there as necessity arises. The air current will lift the feathers off the body of the bird and will draw them between the two rollers, when the space 33 is produced between them. On the further rotation of the two rollers the feathers be tween the full contactin portion of the tae pered rollers will be drawn or plucked out of the body of the bird, resting against the teeth 28 of the comb and its skin protectedfrom ing torn from the same with the feathers the air current will draw the feathers through the conduits 16 and 17 and said current and the blades of the fan or exhauster 18 will further propel the feathers and finally expel them through the exhaust o ie'ning 55. A bag or other appropriate container may be attached to the opening to receive the removed feathers.

As indicated in the drawings, removed portions 12 and 13 are preferably formed with a convexly curved outline, which, to my experience, will aid in producing an air current between said rollers and in gripping the feathers by them, though the rollers will als operate if their removed parts are severed from their main bodies by simple straight planes.

My device is also operated with full and complete rollers from which no portions have been removed and it will also operate with straight cylindrical rollers. I, however, prefer to employ rollers with partly removed portions for the reason indicated hereinbefore, and I also prefer to employ tapered rollers for the following reasons: The first operation in removing the feathers from the body of a bird has to do with its larger and stronger feathers, a stronger pull is necessary for the removal of such large and long feathers, but on the other hand they are easier to be brought between the rollers. For such starting operation I, therefore, will use tae larger di eters of the rollers, nearer to the wall 10*, and the comb will also have to be stronger and thicker at that point, but it may also be set at a somewhat larger distance from the rollers. After the first heavy feathers have been removed, the removal of the finer and shorter feathers is a more difficult operation and requires addedcare. The body of the bird has to be brought closer to the gripping surfaces at the contact points of the two rollers, therefore the diameters of the rollers must be smaller, the comb lighter and as near as possible to the rollers, therefore, I employ the tapering rollers and a gradually weakening comb approaching closer and closer to said roller Finally, in order to enable the device to pluck the finest feathers from the body of the bird, no comb is provided in front of the shortest diameters of the rollers, close to the wall 10, so that the operator may put the body of the bird right close to the gripping surface between the two rollers.

My experience has been that rollers and combs constructed as described hereinbefore will enable the operator to pluck the body of a bird perfectly clean even of its finest feathers with great speed and facility without any I injury to the skin of the bird.

As further assistance in securing a safe operation at the start of the plucking of the feathers, I also may employ a. protecting cover in the form of a plate hingedly secured to the top 10 of the casing as at 61. 1 found it desirable to close this plate 60 down upon the comb-when starting the plucking oper ation of a heavier bird, like a goose. or duck, thereoy limiting the amount of feathers gripped at the start by the machine to those within tne space 62 between the side wall 10 and the plate 60, as otherwise the machine will grip too large an amount of said strong and heavy feathers and tear. part of the body of the bird therewith. After the heaviest feathers are removed plate 60 may be swung out of contact with the comb, and out from in front of the rollers to the top of the casing, and the plucking operation continued as desired.

The comb may have an inwardly projecting ledge 63 to support the feathers and to further protect the skin and body of the bird.

The specific gearing 25 is employed by me to insure that the rollers 12 and 13 will run in phase, that is their full and their removed portions always facing one another during their rotation, even if the upper roller 12 is lifted to a considerable distance, through a greater mass of feathers getting between the two. In such cases, 15 maybe temporarily lifted out of mesh with the gear 16 and lose in phase in relation to the same. Even in such cases, however, the gear 54- will remain in :mesh with the gear a, and said gear 54 willbe driven by the same gear 53 as gear 46 and being identical with said gear, it will keep on driving the gear 45 and the roller 12 with a uniform speed to that of the gear 46 and the a combination of tapering The up- LlOllS. pering portion YO'and .c. i ..l portion while the lower 3* has two diferent tapering por ions I The diameters, gles and ar- 'ementof the axes '50. and 71 of the rollers and their parts being such that the arts with the largest 1 will have an action similar to cylindrical rollers. In some cases I have found it best to start the plucking operation with such cylindrical rollers.

lt will be obvious to those skilled in the art to which the invention relates that modifications may be made in details of construction and arrangement without departing from its spirit, hence I do not desire to limit myself in regard to such matters or otherwise than as the prior state of t.1e art and the appended claims may require.

What 1 claim as new, is:

1. In a device for plucking feathers, a pair diameters at 70 and and an an" of coacting oppositely rotating rollers for gripping the feathers therebetween, said. rollers having portions of larger and smaller diameters, for operating on heavier and finer feathers, respectively.

2. In a device for plucking feathers, a pair.

of oppos'z v rotating rollers for gripping the feathers therebetween, having coacting tapering main portions, the first one of said rollers also having a cylindrical portion coaxial with the tapering portion thereof, and the SQCOT. l roller having a separate tapered portion to cooperate with said cylindrical portion of the first roller, being coaxial with the main taperedv portion of its own roller. 3. In a device for plucking feathers as set T claim 1, intermediate portions of ers being removed to produce inter- ,itt 1L circnmfercntially closed free spaces between i in while they are being rotated, tion device in the rear of said rollers to ,w the air through and the feathers into said spaces.

4. In a device for plucki forth in claim 1, intermeciate pertions of said rollers being removed to produce intermittent circumferentially closed free spaces between them wnile they are being rotated; an air suction device in the rear of said rollerst-o draw the air through and the feathers into said spaces, the removed portions of said rollershaving a convex curved outline to aid ingripping the feathers and in producing anintermittent air current between the rollers.

'5. In device for plucking feathers, a pair of coacting oppositely rotating rollers for XlLl feathers as set gripping the feathers therebetween, portions of said rollers being removed to produce intermittent free spaces between them while they are being rotated, and one of said rollers having a fixed axis, while the other being .resilientlymovable on a pivoted arm towards or away from said fixed roller; a gear drive for said rollers to insure their running in phase, comprising a main driving gear, two identical coacting gears at the ends of the rollers, the one on the fixed roller being driven by the main gear, and a third identical gear adapted to coact with both, the main gear and the gear on the movable roller, in its normal and in 1ts raised positions.

6. In a device as set forth in claim 1, the

portions of the smallest diameters of the rollersbeing at one end of them and being continued in coasting ti nions, and two half bearings to journal said trunnions.

7.:In a device of the character described two coacting rollers, and a'hinged plate to cover part of the rollers when it is desired to limit the area of the operation.

8. In a device as set forth in claim 1, a hinged plate adapted to cover a part of the heavier portions of the rollers when it is desired to limit the'area of their operation.

9. In a device of the character des'cribed,

I a plurality of rotatable tapering rollers .for

gripping feathers therebetween and a comb,

adjacent to the rollers for guiding the feathers thereto, said comb having gradually reduced thickness in the direction of the smaller ends of the rollers and said comb gradually approaching said rollers in that direction.

10. In a device of the'character described, a'plurality of rotatable tapering rollers for gripping feathers therebetween, and a combv York and State of New York, this 25th day of April, A. D. 1928.

V JULIUS DUNNER. 

